Ex-Middie psyched up for wrestling clinic

Steve Garland has worked with some of the nation's best wrestling coaches.

SAL INTERDONATO

Steve Garland has worked with some of the nation's best wrestling coaches.

Garland was an assistant under Rob Koll at Cornell. Cal Poly's Brandon Buckley coached Garland when he wrestled at Virginia.

But no one fires Garland up like Paul Cummings.

Cummings was Garland's coach at Middletown High in the mid-1990s. "To this day, he's motivated me more than anyone ever has," said Garland, now Virginia's head coach.

So when Cummings called Garland and asked him to make a difference back home, Garland couldn't refuse.

Garland will return to the area Saturday and Sunday at Goshen High to run his first local wrestling clinic since 2007.

"As soon as he got a hold of me on the phone, I was jacked up," Garland said. "This is something I need to do. I'd love to do it every year. I talk to my team about Section 9 being this mystical place. I need to do something and not just talk about it."

Garland led Virginia to a No. 11 ranking in the 2012-13 season. Two of Garland's wrestlers earned all-American honors.

The clinic will focus on four disciplines — an offensive underhook series, reshots from a neutral position, leg riding and defense from the bottom position.

"We are hoping for a good turnout," said Cummings, now an assistant coach at Valley Central. "Here's a guy who is a Division I coach from our area. I don't think there's been anybody else. He was the first local wrestler to make a Division I final since Ed and Lou Banach. He's done a lot at Virginia. It's a shame if we don't utilize this opportunity."